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Re: forklift vs skid steer

Originally Posted by Tom G. Laury

Going fast to save time is an illusion, loading bees or many other things. Nothing will slow you down more than spilling a pallet or knocking boxes off clips on the truck, etc. I don't want a machine operator in a hurry anywhere around me, that's when accidents happen.

True, Tom. While we try to keep the hustle on, we also try to not rush. Rushing breeds sloppiness. Sloppiness spills bees. Spilling bees... well, you know...

We typically load at dusk-into-dark, when the bees aren't flying. Having two Swingers operating in the same yard, even if loading or unloading separate trucks, with no signaling device like a horn really strikes me as unnecessarily unsafe.

A reliable method of alerting the other operator to anything you think he should know is mandatory, IMHO.

Re: forklift vs skid steer

Since I have been looking into a way to lift pallets; either skid steer, forklift, or TLB, I came across a couple of Craigslist ads where the prices on two tractors were simply too good to be true. My first thought was this is some sort of scam. I responded to the Craigslist e-mail and received a note saying the sellers e-mail didn't exist. Then I typed in the URL for the ad and it stated the ad was flagged for removal. Has anyone experienced a scam like this before?

Re: forklift vs skid steer

Yes. The tractor won't be local to see. Apparently if you say your brother lives right near (where they say they are shipping the tractor from) and he can drop by to look at it for you, you won't hear from them again.

Google "Craigslist tractor scams" for details. I originally saw a $100,000 tractor for sale for $8500. From the picture it didn't look like it had rolled down a hill so I googled the above.

Re: forklift vs skid steer

Originally Posted by Trevor Mansell

Alot of guys in Ga use new hollands with superbooms. You can actually reach the top row of a semi. As far as beeing jerky that is ussually the operator unless something is wrong with the machine.
Look at a new holland L170 with a superboom.

I've seen a skid steer be pretty jerkky. This one is not so? How does the price compare to the hummer bee. I was looking for something. We use our 3020 JD tractor but that is really too big. It makes more use of our tractor which is our everyday feeding, baling land work tractor, but moving bees in the yards, moving barrels out of the honey house, gets pretty tricky sometimes.

Re: forklift vs skid steer

Lots of interesting discussion if you read the entire thread including talk about the New Holland. Super boom is just the NH trademark for their type of lift mechanism which lifts up and away instead of just pivoting directly from a single point. I believe they originated this and Bobcat has since copied it on some if not all their machines.
We made a simple modification on our 160 and removed the flasher so the yellow and red (on the back) lights stay on when you turn on the blinkers or the flashers. Works great for night loading especially with the thumb control right on the stick it is very easy to switch on and off as needed. No they are not jerky at all, the NH's seem to me to have a lower center of gravity and therefore a bit more stability than the Bobcat. Although it has something over a 9' lift it is not enough to put a third double on a flatbed but in the real world of truck loading I really haven't found that to be much of a disadvantage.
Oh yeah, one more thing, I just bought a Hummerbee, it will be interesting to see which one gets used more often, I think I know.

Re: forklift vs skid steer

What be the equipment if you want something
cheap hope less than 5000 dollars to start
off with and do yard work stuff and move bee
by myself I put my hives on four way pallets
and would like a poor man method of moving
bees

Last edited by JohnK and Sheri; 10-25-2009 at 03:12 PM.
Reason: off topic

Re: forklift vs skid steer

My truck and trailer holds a much as a semi, but I always need to have
a loader at both ends Maine/Florida and hope I don't break down and need to
unload in between. Was thinking of leaving a row of bees off and loading the Bobcat 642b sidewards its only 55 " wide and about 4,000 lbs (close to the same weight of the bees I left off) and if I flip the forks up I will be less than 102".
Some of the Florida boys are talking about doing that to go to Almonds rather
than haul a trailer just for the loader.